. In Omdurman Fort was a specially selected garrison of 240
men, commanded by a gallant black officer, Ferratch or Faragalla
Pasha, who had been raised from a subordinate capacity to the
principal command under him by Gordon. Gordon's point of observation
was the flat roof of the Palace, whence he could see everything with
his telescope, and where he placed his best shots to bear on any point
that might seem hard pressed. Still more useful was it for the purpose
of detecting the remissness of his own troops and officers, and often
his telescope showed him sentries asleep at their posts, and officers
absent from the points they were supposed to guard.

From the end of March until the close of the siege scarcely a day
passed without the exchange of artillery and rifle fire on one side or
the other of the beleaguered town. On special occasions the Khedive's
garrison would fire as many as forty or even fifty thousand rounds of
Remington cartridges, and the Arab fire was sometimes heavier. This
incessant fire, as the heroic defender wrote in his journal, murdered
sleep, and at last he became so accustomed to it that he could tell by
the sound where the firing was taking place. The most distant points
of the defence, such as the _santal_ on the White Nile and Fort
Omdurman, were two miles from the Palace; and although telegraphic
communication existed with them during the greater part of the siege,
the oral evidence as to the point of attack was often found the most
rapid means of obtaining information. This was still more advantageous
after the 12th of November, for on that day communications were cut
between Khartoum and Omdurman, and it was found impossible to restore
them. The only communications possible after that date were by bugle
and flag. At the time of this severance Gordon estimated that the
garrison of Omdurman had enough water and biscuit for six weeks, and
that there were 250,000 cartridges in the arsenal. Gordon did
everything in his power to aid Ferratch in the defence, and his
remaining steamer, the _Ismailia_, after the grounding of the
_Husseinyeh_ on the very day Omdurman was cut off, was engaged in
almost daily encounters with the Mahdists for that purpose. Owing to
Gordon's incessant efforts, and the gallantry of the garrison led by
Ferratch, Omdurman held out more than two months. It was not until
15th January that Ferratch, with Gordon's leave, surrendered, and then
when the Mahdists occupied the plac